Halloween Ends (2022) - REVIEW

 

The sequel everyone has been waiting for or maybe not for that matter considering Halloween Kills wasn't really that good.  I remember the director saying when Halloween Kills came out that they intended to take the movie in a new direction.  I also remember me thinking to myself: How can they really do that?  The final showdown between Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney).  It seems like it has been done before, quite a few times actually.  Is it really the end this time?

"Four years after the events of Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn't been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life.

But when a young man, Corey Cunningham, is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can't control, once and for all." IMDB.com

First, I want to say that whatever expectation you have going into this film.  You can just squash it!  This is completely not what I expected to watch. The direction they took this story in is very different and not the traditional Halloween movie that is expected.   This may be where all the bad reviews I have been seeing pop up for this film.

 I think this was really well written and as original as it could be considering it is the 13th movie in the franchise.  It starts off just a bit slow but does gain momentum pretty quickly.  Once it does, I found myself getting more and more into this movie because I couldn't predict how it was going to end.  Jamie Lee Curtis gives a great performance as well as the newcomer to the franchise in 2018, Andi Matichak as Laurie Strodes Granddaughter. 

You may agree with my review or you may not and that's OK but I really enjoyed watching this.  I thought the best part was the ending.  The ending gave me a sense of closure to the series and I really hope they don't make anymore.  As great as Michael Myers films are, it's old and tired.  Much like Michael appears to be.  I enjoyed this trilogy as a whole but lets be done now. Stay Twisted everyone!

 

The Birds II: Land's End (1994) - REVIEW

 

Until about a month ago I didn't even know The Birds had a sequel.  A made for TV movie from 1994.  Still doesn't ring any bells.  I figured I would go ahead and give it a try and see if it was any good.  Knowing that this was not going to compare to the Alfred Hitchcock classic from the 60's.  I usually like a good bad movie.  Did that make sense?

 "A biology teacher and his wife take their two children to an island summer house to enable him to write an important thesis while getting over the death of their son.

While they are there, large flocks of birds appear and begin to attack individual humans for no apparent reason. The town mayor (who is also the local doctor) refuses to believe that birds are responsible for the spate of injuries that are occurring but, before long, he has no option but to believe as the birds begin attacking larger groups of people. "-IMDB.com

This is the sequel you didn't know you needed.  Do you know why?  Because you didn't!  This movie is a shitshow and not even good for a made for TV movie.  I'm ok with the fact that no big name actors or actresses are in it but you give a small role to Tippi Hedren, who was in the original movie, and it's not even the same role.

I mean, Cmon!  The story is lacking, not developed well and takes too long to get to any action in the movie.  This may have been ok if it was building suspense but it really wasn't.  The only star I can give this is that the deaths were done pretty well.  I guess they tried to make up for the fact that the movie itself was awful.  It doesn't of course but at least it gives people one lone positive thing to say. 

The Birds II was just released about a month ago on Blu-Ray by Vinegar Syndrome.  The transfer and the quality of the film was really good.  I am a big fan of Vinegar Syndrome and as usual they did not disappoint in that aspect.  They found a way to polish a turd. 

Stay Twisted Everyone

Devour 2005 - REVIEW

 

Let me just start off by saying, I’m a huge, HUGE Supernatural fan (Dean girl all the way) so I was surprised that I had never heard of this movie before. Not gonna lie, the movie poster and tag line didn’t really do it for me but the lure of seeing Jensen Ackles in something other than the role he’s most known for definitely did it for me. 

College student Jake Gray (Jensen Ackles) has spent a lifetime dealing with waking nightmares but has managed to separate dreams from reality in order to function. On his 21st birthday, his friends, Conrad (Teach Grant) and Dakota (Dominique Swain) present him with the gift of The Pathway; a computer game that quickly becomes more than they bargained for. While Jake gets drawn further into the game, the people around him start committing violent crimes and harming themselves and his visions become more and more disturbing. As his life crumbles around him, he starts to believe the game is to blame for everything. With the help of his last remaining friend, Marisol (Shannyn Sossamon), he looks to the developer of the game, Aiden Kater (Martin Cummins)  for answers and ends up getting much more than he bargained for. 

I obviously wasn’t looking for Oscar worthy performances from anyone but with such an experienced cast, I was expecting decent, if not good, execution. Here’s the problem… you can have the best cast on the planet but even they can’t save a poorly written film. At times the dialogue seems trite and forced which in turn, comes off as very wooden. The only saving grace is William Sadler as a heartbroken husband and father. Unfortunately, he only appears for a few minutes and it’s most definitely not long enough to pull Devour out of it’s tailspin. 

When I first read the description, my mind immediately went to Stay Alive but where Stay Alive thrives, Devour falls far short. The entire premise of the movie hangs on the illusion of ‘The Pathway’ but the game is never explained. You can infer why they introduced Jake to it but how did they come across it and why did they decide to participate? Beyond that, the film also suffers from very little character development which leads the audience to not really care who lives or dies. Speaking of deaths, most of them are implied, rather than shown so you’re cheated out of the elation of watching these unlikable characters meet their demise.

All in all, Devour is slow, predictable and disappointing in every way. Somewhere in there, the whole premise, The Pathway, falls to the wayside and a whole different plot line takes over. Take the first, middle and end and make three different short films and they MIGHT be watchable. As it is, this pathway leads to nothing more than mediocrity. 

 

Black Phone (2021)- REVIEW

        

Well, well, well.  After another hiatus, just a few years, we are back to tackle some movie reviews that we think you guys would want to know about.  It's not that we lost our passion for horror or writing, life just happens sometimes and you find yourself with less and less time to do the things you really want to focus on.  Adulting is fucking bullshit!  I know I can speak for myself and Tammy when I say we missed you guys and we are going to try and deliver the experience and news that we used to back in the day.  All that being said, lets take a look at Black Phone.

 Set in 1978, in Denver, Co there is a child abductor on the loose.  Kids are disappearing with not many clues left behind and anyone who is taken is never found again.  The only thing being left behind at the scene are black balloons.  Finney Blake, our main character, finds himself as one of the abducted locked in a basement and being looked after by a masked man who is deeply disturbed.

The only things that are in this basement is a mattress on the floor and a black phone on the wall.  Calls soon start coming in from this phone from previous victims of the kidnapper.  Each one giving some kind of clue trying to help Finney get out of this nightmare.

I really think Blumhouse knocked this one out of the park.  They came up with something that is suspenseful and original which isn't something that horror movies have been able to produce on a regular basis in the past 10 years. 

Ethan Hawke gives a great performance as always.  I don't think I have seen him in a movie that I didn't like.  The creepy kidnapper, he just nails it.  He even creeped me out a few times and that is a hard thing to do.  The acting in general was good, good story and atmosphere.  I highly recommend checking this one out if you haven't already.  

There you have it.  Straight from my mouth to your computer screen.  I believe this is still in theaters or maybe on its way out by now but it is streaming on Peacock, which is where i saw it.  There are so many streaming services out there right now making it easier and easier to see everything you could ever want to and maybe some things you wish you hadn't.  This is one you definitely want to see. Till next time.  

Stay Twisted everyone!!

 

  

Come to Daddy 2019 - REVIEW

 

Okay, okay, I get it… we dropped off the map for (literally) years but there were extenuating circumstances. I’ve been busy with animal rescue stuff and J.R. has been promoted several times, increasing his work load BUT, we’re hoping to make a comeback now! 

Anyone who has followed me on Twitter or Facebook knows that for the past couple of years, we have been doing interactive movie nights. We pick a movie, build props to match and drop guests right in the middle of it. In the past, I’ve chosen movies that would be well received, based on our audience, but I kinda ran out of those. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching movies trying to pick something everyone would enjoy… which leads me to Come to Daddy.

Norval Greenwood (Elijah Wood) is an underachieving former alcoholic who receives a letter from his estranged father (Stephen McHattie) asking him to come for a visit. Curious about who his father really is, Norval makes the trip to his secluded, scenic waterfront house. Upon arrival, he is perplexed to meet an angry alcoholic father who seems uninterested in getting to know him. Before long, his father’s behavior becomes increasingly more concerning. That coupled with the strange noises coming from inside the house, drive him spiraling further and further into despair.

Let’s get a few of things straight here… 1) I LOVE both Stephen McHattie and Elijah Wood and it’s no surprise that they each give pretty stellar performances. 2) Phenomenal actors and good cinematography alone DO NOT make a good film. Just when I’m about to give up, Garfield Wilson and Martin Donovan come in with, what I’m assuming is the “comedic” part of the film, and all I can do is sit and watch even more wasted talent. When you’re lucky enough to get stars of this caliber and you waste their talents on a subpar film, it’s quite angering. 

Billed as a horror/comedy I expected a lot given the cast and reviews but I can honestly say I was more than disappointed. The film itself drags on and on with very little action to speak of. The only real points of suspense left me smacking my forehead and rubbing my temples wondering why I ever turned it on to begin with. Not only was it a waste of talent, but a complete and total waste of 96 minutes of time. In fact, I think I’d rather take the spam call about my cars extended warranty than ever even think of this movie again. Watch it at your own risk but don’t say I didn’t warn you beforehand.

Happy Death Day 2017 - REVIEW

Groundhog Day (1993) is quite the masterpiece for it's time and continues to hold up well today. It's such a fun movie that countless other films have tried to mimic it's greatness but none have ever come close to measuring up, in my opinion anyway. TV shows like Charmed, Supernatural and even The X-Files have had episodes that involved some sort of time loop. So why not a horror movie?

After a night of partying, self centered college student, Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) wakes up in the dorm room of Carter Davis (Israel Broussard). Confused and embarrassed, she quickly dresses and goes about her day as usual. Later that night, as she's headed to a party, she's murdered by an unknown assailant. Next thing she knows, she's waking up in Carter's room again and the day starts over again. She, of course, writes off all the familiar happenings as deja vu, at least until she's headed back to the party. Creeped out, she decides to go a different way and ends up being killed again. When she finally figures out what's going on, she realizes in order to stop the cycle, she has to find out who wants her dead and why.

Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for this movie. Admittedly, I haven't been watching a ton of movies lately but main stream horror hasn't been really given me the urge to do so either. However, Happy Death Day was refreshingly clever. It gets moving pretty quickly and doesn't let up much at all. It's like a riding a roller coater for the first time. Given the amount of times Tree is killed, the death scenes were quite creative. It's like director Christopher Landon and writer Scott Lobdell sat down in a room together and asked, "Ok, how many different ways can we kill someone?", then just went for it and nailed it. I appreciate that they didn't go over board with elaborate kills and shove blood and gore down the audience's throat. Sometimes simple is better and it's nice to see a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously. They knew going in what they were going for and made it look easy.

Speaking of making things look easy, Rothe definitely steals the show with her performance. She brings a lot of life to an otherwise unlikable character and does an incredible job conveying growth over the course of the movie. It takes a special writer and actor to make an audience root for such an obnoxious character. In fact, I found that every actor involved did a pretty outstanding job. Rothe and Broussard mesh well together and I can see each of them doing more great things in the future.

While the film is far from perfect, it is tremendously fun. It has a great mix of horror, comedy and, dare I say, even a little romance. It's a rare thing to see a slasher movie take all those elements and successfully bring them together. If you're a fan of the slasher genre, do yourself a favor and watch it. And, I hear they're working on a second part as well so here's to hoping it's as good as this one.

Amityville: The Awakening 2017 - REVIEW

For a long time I didn't think this movie was ever going to be released.  Countless times it was pushed back from the theatrical release till they finally pulled it for good and just released it straight to dvd.  Nevertheless I still was pretty enthused to see a new entry to an Amityville franchise that isn't that all impressive.  I actually enjoy the first 4 but then they get a little too cheesy and just bad after that.

I have to say I really liked Awakening.  I know that is not a popular opinion but I thought the cast was great and really just not a bad movie.  I am not giving this a raving review but if you are familiar with the franchise it certainly is better than most of them. 

Joan (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a desperate Mother that will try anything to cure her  son (Cameron Monaghan) who has been in a coma for a couple years.  She believes the Amityville house's powers will bring him out of his condition and all will be good again.  Joan fails to tell the rest of her family about the house's history and the real reason they moved there.  This is something that her teenage daughter Belle (Bella Thorne) has to find out for herself. 

I was a little hesitant to watch this after all the delays and people saying how bad it was but i already loved who was in it.  The acting to me did not disappoint.  Jennifer Jason Leigh may not be as young as she once was but she still has a presence about her and young stars Cameron Monaghan  from Shameless and Bella Thorne are excellent as well.  I would give this film 6 out of 10 stars.  Definately recommend giving this one a chance.  There are a few scenes that were so creepy they made me uncomfortable.  Stay twisted everyone